Last week I went with 6 friends for a Sport Adventure tour of Normandie:
We took our own bikes to Honfleur, near Le Havre and met up with Chris Evans, the tour leader at 8.30 on Wednesday morning. Chris and his team issued us with detailed roadbooks and loaded our luggage into the support van to travel ahead of us to the hotel in Gace, some 120km away. As the cool, gery morning turned to a warm sunny day, we rode out into the beautiful Normandie countryside spending most of our time on dirt tracks and lanes, like this one, with a stream running down it:
We naturally split into three groups according to speed but regrouped at coffee stops and for lunch (which was very good, duck in cider, yum):
The hotel in Gace had ample supplies of beer, food and hot water; at the end of a day’s riding we made full use of all of these.
Thursday consisted of a number of loops around Gace using less tarmac than the previous day and with more difficult terrain (trickier climbs, deep mud and a river crossing), but we still had time to enjoy the scenery:
on one of the easier lanes of the day:
From time to time Dominic (a riot policeman in his day job), who was riding as sweeper would appear to check that Hoddy (my riding companion) and I were OK, then roar off again. It was a superb day’s riding, exactly how green laning should be.
Friday’s route was a return to Honfleur. The sun shone, the scenery was beautiful and the green lanes were great fun although a little easier than Thursday, which was just as well, as the accumulated fatigue of three days of dirt riding was catching up with us. This meant more frequent stops for breathers and to enjoy the scenery. This is Hoddy on his Beta Alp in a forest carpeted with white flowers:
We got back to Honfleur late on Friday afternoon, tired, sore and very happy, and after jetwashing the bikes and showering ourselves, we tucked into entrecote steaks washed down with beer, wine and calvados. Lovely.
In all it was a brilliant way to spend three days, doing what trail bikes were built for and we came away better dirt riders than we had started. It was well organised with a good choice of routes, although probably not ideal for an absolute beginner. I recommend it as a top biking holiday and will probably be back to do one of his other tours next year.
Duncan
Mmmm wonder if the wife would enjoy that…